National Museum of the U.S. Navy

On April 13, 2023, noted author, John Geoghegan, talked about his newest book,  When Giants Ruled the Sky which recounts the true but little-known story of the Navy airship, USS Macon (ZRS-5), the world’s largest, most expensive and most technologically advanced airship of her day, and the four men responsible for conceiving, designing, building, and flying her. Curator and Historian, Gordon Calhoun contributes interesting insights on the Macon as it relates to the new museum exhibition, The Future Is Now: The Navy’s Lighter Than Airships.

About the Speakers:  

John Geoghegan began his career as a Special Correspondent for the "New York Times."  He specializes in reporting on unusual inventions that fail in the marketplace despite their innovative nature. He helped popularize the term "white elephant technology" (WETech) to describe these inventions and has written about them for the "New York Times" Science section, WIRED, "Smithsonian Air & Space," "Popular Science," and the "San Francisco Chronicle" Sunday Magazine among other publications.  His most recent book, When Giants Ruled the Sky (The History Press, April 2022) tells the little known story of the U.S. Navy's dirigible program during its two most critical years (April 1933-February 1935). He currently serves as Director of The SILOE Research Institute's archival division in Marin County, California.

Gordon Calhoun is a historian and curator with the National Museum of the United States.  He has worked for the Naval Museum system for over 28 years as a curator, historian, and editor, covering many different time periods of U.S. Naval history.  He lives just north of Fredericksburg, Virginia and runs with his family a thoroughbred horse breeding operation.